We had a wonderful picket yesterday. Arrived right on time at 11:00
a.m. and picketed until about 12:30 p.m. The day was quite warm,
although overcast. A few light sprinkles but generally a fine day for
picketing.

Things seem to be getting a little smoother in terms of the OSA drill.
We got the same lady who came out, took our pictures and asked for
(and received of course) our handouts. Today Gerry used a "Who is
Xenu" flyer. My flyer had the following text:

I got into the cult on January 1, 1975 at the Vancouver organization.
My daughter, Ann, was born in 1977. Though I left the cult quietly in
1999, she is still in the cult and has now been ordered by the cult to
"disconnect" from me. [image of picket sign]

In April 2001, $cientology forced my daughter, Ann, to break ties with
me after an essay I had entered into the Lisa McPherson Trust Literati
contest won a prize and was published on the Internet. The essay was
entered under the pseudonym "Anti-virus" as I wished to remain
anonymous and avoid repercussions from $cientology for its critical
content on $cientology. The essay is here:
http://www.lisatrust.net/scientology/essays/literati/00-antivirus.htm

$cientology is very well known for aggressive, even criminal actions
against critics of organization practices. $cientology operatives
spent approximately six weeks to identify the writer of that essay,
and eventually correctly that I was the person behind the pseudonym
"Anti-virus." They were so sure of my identity that they never
contacted me personally to verify that I wrote the essay. Instead,
they ordered my daughter into their organization and used their
"scriptures" and mind control tactics to convince her that her mother
was totally insane. They had her call me from the organization, from
one of the bureaus responsible for enforcement and punishment, to
disconnect from me, that is, to cease communicating in any way and to
write off any mother-daughter relationship for the rest of her life.

Since leaving $cientology, I have experienced a gradual, and sometimes
shocking, waking up to the deep and pervasive fraud, and psychological
and physical abuse in the cult, and its inbred antisocial, even
criminal, nature. My daughter was born and raised in $cientology, but
my family situation is far from unique. Families very often get
broken up and estranged when $cientology is involved, because this
organization permits no critical thinking about its many bad and
dangerous practices, and because its only response to criticism is to
attack the critics.

On November 13, 2001, I wrote a letter demanding a refund to
Scientology cult leader, David Miscavige and each organization where I
had paid over the years for Scientology "services" a total of some
$61,500 (US Dollars.) Neither Miscavige nor any Scientology "service"
organization has responded to my demand. Scientology's stated policy
stresses quick refunds for those who are dissatisfied with Scientology
services, but Scientology's failure to apply their own refund
"scriptures," shows that the refund policy is just another part of the
organization-wide fraud.

Sincerely,

Caroline Letkeman

--------end paste text--------

We handed out 60 fliers altogether

This was the first day of the week for Scientology and the first
production day of their first week in A.D. 52. So! We started the
org off with down stats.

We got the feeling that the org was doing whatever possible to prevent
all of their staff or customers from exiting the front door or
otherwise having any contact with us. It felt like we were keeping all
the Scientologists from going to lunch (although they probably have a
rear escape from the building) so we decided to cut our picket short.

During our last ten minutes or so, a middle aged woman, came out of
the org and stood nearby, not looking directly at us, but clearly
within easy hearing distance and observing us. We tried to engage her
without much success, although in the process she produced what
sounded like an Australian accent. She was very low toned, but we
remained enthusiastic and quite willing to engage in meaningful
conversation at any time.

We'd like to think she's from OSA Int and sent out to get an appraisal
of our beingnesses. So we made sure she knew we'd be back.

We have a lot of supporters among the wogs® who walk or drive along
Hastings Street, a number of whom recognize us from other pickets. The
number of people who recognize $cientology as a scam, or a criminal or
satantic cult, is truly great. Many wogs® don't take our flyers
because they "already know all about those crooks."

We are compiling a list of all of the expressions of encouragement
from wogs® that were spoken or yelled to us and we'll post it to
a.r.s., and everyone can add expressions of encouragement they've
received when picketing.

So, is this the first picket of 2002?

My digital camera is in for repairs but we took a few with a 35 mm
camera. When those are developed, I'll post to a.b.s.

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